Aaron Herold

Associate Professor & Chair of Political Science and International Relations
Fraser 107b
585-245-5460
herold@geneseo.edu

Aaron Herold is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, coordinator of Legal Studies, and co-director of the Forum on Constitutionalism and Democracy. He teaches courses on political theory, constitutional law, and judicial politics. His research focuses on the American constitutional tradition, the political philosophy of the liberal Enlightenment, and the thought of Alexis de Tocqueville—especially as these pertain to questions about the public role of religion and the separation of church and state. His book, The Democratic Soul: Spinoza, Tocqueville, and Enlightenment Theology, was recently published by University of Pennsylvania Press (2021).  In addition, he is writing a series of articles and book chapters examining the writings of both political philosophers and statesmen who have drawn attention to the connections between the place of religion and issues of ambition and civic engagement in modern and American politics. His work has appeared in The American Political Science Review, Political Research Quarterly, and The Review of Politics. Prior to coming to SUNY Geneseo, he taught at Boston College, Rhodes College, the University of Richmond, and the College of the Holy Cross. He has a B.A. from Emory University, an M.A. from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Professor Herold will spend the 2023-24 academic year on sabbatical at Princeton University, where he will be a residential Visiting Fellow in the Department of Politics and the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.

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Aaron L. Herold

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

  • “Statesmanship in Modern Times.” Perspectives on Political Science 50:4 (2022).

  • The Democratic Soul: Spinoza, Tocqueville, and Enlightenment Theology (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021).

  • “A Liberation From Fear: Benedict de Spinoza on Religion, Philosophy, and Mortality.” In Political Philosophies of Aging, Dying, and Death, ed. Erin Dolgoy, Bruce Peabody, and Kimberly Hurd Hale (Routledge, 2021).

  • "Tocqueville on Religion and Democratic Character: Equality, Mediocrity, and Greatness." In Civil Religion in Modern Political Philosophy, ed. Steven Frankel and Martin D. Yaffe (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2020).

  • “Tocqueville on Religion, the Enlightenment, and the Democratic Soul,” American Political Science Review 109:3 (August 2015).

  • “Spinoza’s Liberal Republicanism and the Challenge of Revealed Religion,” Political Research Quarterly 67:2 (June 2014), 239-252.

  • “‘The Chief Characteristical Mark of the True Church’: John Locke’s Theology of Toleration and His Case for Civil Religion,” The Review of Politics 76:2 (Spring 2014), 195-221.